Dinosaurs and Feathers

“And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.”

I am a long-time fan of the BBC science fiction show Doctor Who, having watched it since the mid-1960s when the show was in black and white with no computer graphics and Daleks were upturned trash cans with sink plungers attached. One of my favorite episodes of the modern era was entitled Dinosaurs on a Spaceship. The title said it all.

A lost craft was traveling through space with a cargo of untethered dinosaurs. But not everyone enjoyed the episode. Some well-known evolutionary biologists in Britain complained about one scene which featured a couple of tyrannosauruses. Their complaint was that the T. Rexes should have been covered in feathers.

In practice, the idea of feathered dinosaurs still does not have solid fossil evidence to back it up. Most of the fossils found with evidence of feathers are clearly birds. A small number of others are doubtful but could easily be assumed to be birds.

In 2016, it was announced that a dinosaur feather had been found entrapped in amber. However, the feather was not attached to an animal. Later the same year, other amber-clad feathers were discovered that were definitely attached to a bird. Some have claimed that there are fossil T. Rexes that show signs of feather follicles.

Again, these patterns are open to interpretation. Now, it is possible, perhaps, that some dinosaurs could have had feathers, but this does not provide proof that birds evolved from dinosaurs. What we actually find in the fossil record is evidence of kinds of animals, just as the Bible states. It does not make sense to impose an evolutionary worldview on any of these findings.

Prayer:

When You finished creating, Lord God, You looked at all You had made and declared it to be “very good”. Thank You that all we understand about dinosaurs and other animals is consistent with Your word. Amen.

Transcript Categories

Today's Featured Product

Galapagos Islands

Observe the wondrous diversity of life, including birds, reptiles, and plants Learn how Darwin's worldview and the biblical worldview differ and the importance of this in studying the Galápagos With poignant chapters from Ken...